Makeup is art and your face is a canvas! Like the late, great Yves Saint Laurent once said, “The most beautiful makeup of a woman is passion. But cosmetics are easier to buy.” While I don't condone you purchasing lipstick with reckless abandon, I think it's a great way to have fun and showcase your confidence! Since a year has gone by since I started receiving Birchboxes, I thought I'd compile a list of mentionable products and a few duds, like this Nail Rock (below) in "Velvet Navy" that I recieved in my last box. For those of you not familiar with Birchbox, it's like a beauty product enthusiast's dream. For $10 each month you get a handcrafted box of beauty supplies sent to your door and wrapped up in a pretty package. Most items are high-end and the trendiest supplies on the market, albeit only sample sizes for the most part. I've gotten a few hits and misses with my boxes, and my last one was no exception. Nail Rock is a neat and unique product where you apply a coat of the included polish and quickly dip your nail in a little glass jar of velvet. You brush away the excess and voila - you've got an eye-catching but also very flimsy nail design! Unfortunately, this may have been the NAIL in the coffin (har, har) for my membership, as I plan on signing up for a year of Ipsy's Glam Bag instead. What really draws me to Ipsy is their drive to find products tailored to your skin/hair/eye color. There are so many companies to choose from that feature this concept, so if you're interested in being on the cutting edge of cosmetology, check 'em out. Everyone has their favorite, so just pick one and have fun!

The apparatus TRYING to contain the included flurry of velvet. Image courtesy of frecklesandflawsbeautyblog.

Birchbox: Year in Review

In no specific order, here are the products that "wowed" me. Click on the product title to learn more about each one.1. Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser:Whoa! This product, which arrived with a handy little reusable muslin cloth, has a way of getting into the nooks and crannies of your pores without being too harsh. I felt like I was at a spa! Once I run out of my sample, I'm buying more with my handy review points.2. Klorane Gentle Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk: I had always heard, generally, about the mysterious substance that buys your hair some time until your next shower. This product changed my life! Not only does it freshen hair and leave a great scent, it also conditions! Since the wool was pulled from my eyes, I've since found a budget-friendly and insanely comparable version of this product: Suave Dry Shampoo, and have since recommended it to every. single. friend. I have. 3. theBalm® cosmetics InStain® Long-Wearing Powder Staining Blush:I always found that blushes were too severe and never seemed to stay on all day anyway. This blush changed the game for me. Be weary though, as it really does stain your cheeks like it says! To make things easier on yourself, apply it gradually until you've achieved the desired rosy-cheeked look. 4. Sumita Color Contrast Eyeliner:Is this some weird concoction of butter and ink? No, it's just an amazing eyeliner that seems to melt right onto your skin and stay on like a tattoo. I shy away from pencil liners and go for the new marker-style variety, but this is a sheer win for lash lines everywhere. The creamy texture means easier application. Down with eyeball poking and scraping your delicate lashes! Tip: the dark blue looks great with brown eyes!5. Lancôme LA BASE PRO: This is a clear primer that turns your face into a canvas. It quickly fills in pores and seems to vanish, leaving you with lightweight velvety skin and no residue. It's magical!6. amika Obliphica Nourishing Mask: I'm in love with all masks; hair, skin, even the Mardi Gras variety! This amika mask hydrated my hair and made my split ends less noticeable. A++7. Folle de Joie eau de parfum:After a quick look of the full-size price tag, included in each box, I thought they were out of their minds to assume I would like any perfume stuck-up enough to cost nearly $100. I was wrong. This perfume came down from heaven, riding on the wings of angel! I'm hoping to either get it as a birthday present or perhaps pool my money with 15 other friends to afford it. 8. Benefit Benetint:I saw this in Sephora but wasn't gutsy enough to splurge on a liquid blush. It seems like a really strange way to apply blush, but it looks just as natural as if you spent the day at the beach. Paint it on like nail polish and prepare for a day of natural-looking beauty. 9. Mighty Leaf Tea - Tea Pouches: What?! Birchbox also includes snacks and other yummy stuff? Yes, it's true. I've gotten chocolates, gourmet fortune cookies and the list goes on. This one gets an honorable mention because Mighty Leaf has really got it together! If you're trying to kick coffee, I recommend their delicious Vanilla Bean Black Tea that tastes like dessert. I also got a kick out of their teabag, which seems like mesh stitched together by hand into a pyramid of luscious leaves. 10. Vasanti BrightenUp! Enzymatic Face Rejuvenator: My face has never felt cleaner and more luminous thanks to this product. I will definitely be purchasing this with my points!It's been real, Birchbox! It's a great company if you're looking for make-up application tips, reviews from millions of fans, and a fantastic ten-point-per-review system that has left me with $50 to spend on anything I so choose. After a year and over sixty product samples, these are the ten that blew me away. Onward, to the next beauty adventure!If you've got a favorite product that made your year-end list or is an all-time fave, let me know in the comments below. I'm always interested in trying new things. Thanks for reading! :)

This was what I received for the month of December. Click on the image to learn more about it!

Let me first say "Thanks, Mom!" Birchbox was her Christmas present to me, and I am one thankful daughter!Do you know what Birchbox is? Birchbox provides a monthly service that lets women (and men) discover new beauty and lifestyle products. Each month, you receive a box filled with samples of top products from high-end brands, for only $10. You can try new things and then go on their website to get advice, review products and buy your favorite samples. They also have a pretty awesome point system!

But, Birchbox isn't the only monthly beauty subscription out there. I spent months looking over subscription reviews and past packages that other companies have sent out. I wanted to make sure I was getting the best bang for my buck! Finally, I decided on Birchbox, because it's the most highly-esteemed subscription service, has a great point system (more rewards=more products) and delivers more of the products that I want to sample. Do you want to learn more about it? Here's my referral: https://www.birchbox.com?raf=l1q79

I've decided that I'm going to do a blog review about each month's box. Right now, I'm doing a trial period and trying to decide whether or not a beauty subscription service is for me. Hopefully with my reviews, you'll decide if it's a good idea for you!

My first month: DecemberProduct Reviews: (starting from left to right in the picture above)1. amika Obliphica Nourishing MaskI used about half the tube and really slathered this stuff on my hair. Then I left it on even longer than the recommended 3 minutes, because my hair NEEDS it! I have terrible split ends right now, and will probably get a hair cut this week. That being said, I did take the condition of my hair into account during this review. After use of this rare sea buckthorn berry mask, I blow dried my hair and noticed it was shinier and more hydrated. I did, however, have way more tangles than I usually do, so understand that this is not a conditioner, but a hair mask. I also loved the smell! It was floral but more subtle; not like the blast of fake fragrance in Herbal Essence. I'm not sure if I would purchase this full size product, since it's $40 for just a 16 fl oz bottle (and you've got to slather it on) but overall, I'm really happy it came in my box! Especially since it's got vitamins, omegas and NO parabens!2. Juice Beauty Stem Cellular Repair CC Cream3I am not the biggest fan of this CC cream. It's supposed to it ALL, but it left me wanting. I needed to use WAY too much product for it to conceal like my other, much cheaper, concealers, and the scent was too strong and herbal. I felt like I was rubbing crushed leaves on my face (bc of the scent, not texture) and I was, overall, not very satisfied with this sample. 3.ModelCo SHINE Ultra Lip GlossI'm a chapstick girl (when I remember to apply something to my lips, that is)! I hate the stickiness in lip gloss and lack of lip-conditioning moisture. So when I received this, you can imagine I was a tad disappointed. But, I do have a few good things to say about it. First of all, this wasn't as sticky as other glosses. I didn't find the wisps of my hair getting trapped in my lip gloss every time I turned my head! It's a miracle! On top of that, this was a full size sample (woohoo!) so it came with this neat little mirror attached directly on the side of the bottle. That way, no matter where you are, you can make sure to apply it correctly. The last thing I really liked about this product was the tint. At first glance, it may seem too red and intense, but when you apply it, it gives your lips a nice pink pout. I think I'm going to pass this along to my mom (she loves gloss!) and stick to chapstick though. 4. Juicy CoutureI have always wanted to sample this! I think it's a great scent with lots of depth. I put it on in the morning and it kept changing all day long, with a different layer of fragrance. It was clean and floral, but unfortunately I'm not a big fan of floral scents. I don't think I would purchase this myself, but I would definitely recommend this to someone interested in an intriguing new floral scent. Glad I got to try it out!5. Emily's Chocolates Chocolate Covered Fortune Cookies (Peppermint)Wow! At first I thought it was strange that I received a treat in my Birchbox, but I got really lucky: it was a limited edition peppermint chocolate-covered fortune cookie. If you keep up with my blog, you'll know that I go bananas for peppermint! I feel like I would have paid at least $2 for this, so it was well worth it. Imagine a fortune cookie... triple-dipped in chocolate!

My feelings after my first Birchbox: I really enjoyed receiving a present full of surprise samples. It's fun! From opening the box to unwrapping the samples and then trying them, there's a lot of enjoyment to be had from a $10 box of goodies. This box would be a 3 out of 5 for me, mostly because the Juicy Couture sample was so small (the size they give for free at Sephora) and because my only full-size sample was a gloss (something I hardly use). I'm going to continue my subscription for a couple more months and let you know how things are going!

Vanessa Tritsarolis

Join me on my adventures in experiencing life after college, the new places I visit and things I try out on Pinterest ...and a whole bunch of other random stuff like product reviews and the latest social media news!